How to record audio through mic input?

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peejayw

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#57620 19-Feb-2010 10:57

My laptop does not have a line-in, just mic and headphone. Is there any way I can feed from line out on my audio device to the mic in? Im guesssing the levels will be different and may need some sort of attentuation adjustment ?

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

patatrat

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#300323 19-Feb-2010 11:10

What are you trying to acheive?

I do home recording (drums, keys, bass, guitair, vocals etc) so can help out if you are trying to do something like that.

What is the audio device the audio is coming from? What outputs does it have? What do you want to do with the recorded audio?

As a general rule, the mic input on your PC will only be good for voice chat quality recording. I won't use it to record a pod cast or anything.

peejayw

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#300326 19-Feb-2010 11:18

I am in the process of converting my home vhs movies to dvd using a usb video convertor. My previous laptop had line-in as well as mic and headphone but this newer? one is missing the line-in. The video convertor has a 3.5m stereo audio plug. I tried this in the headphone socket on the laptop but audio quality was terrible.
Thanks for your advice :-)

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

patatrat

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#300329 19-Feb-2010 11:27

Best bet is some sort of audio interface.

You'd probably want one with RCA inputs (from memory, this is what the VCRs output audio with)

Cheapest are around 100 bucks (for studios, they run into the thousands).

I can't attest to the quaility of these. I am not affliated with these traders.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instruments/PA-pro-audio-DJ-equipment/Computer-recording/auction-2724...

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instruments/PA-pro-audio-DJ-equipment/Computer-recording/auction-2721...

SepticSceptic

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#300929 22-Feb-2010 10:50

A quick google on the soundblaster card shows: ( and would be indicative of most mic / line inputs)

Microphone Impedance: 600 Ohms
Line-In Impedance: 47 KOhms
CD Audio-In Impedance: 50 KOhms

Microphone Sensitivity: 10 - 200 mVpp
Line-In Sensitivity: 0 - 2 Vpp
CD Audio-In Sensitivity: 0 - 2 Vpp

As you can see, the mic input is way more sensitive than the standard line input.
What you need is a 10:1 L-Pad attenuator - this will normalise the output from the USB converter to a level that the mic input can handle. I made one up recently using 10K and 1K resistors ( i think - can't remember the specifics ) to do more or less the same thing - line levels to mic levels for a tape recorder. Then there was soldering it all up to a 3.5mm socket and plugs, and bunging into a small case - time intensive for $6 worth of parts.

peejayw

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#300931 22-Feb-2010 10:57

Thanks for that, will give it a go.

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

peejayw

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#300940 22-Feb-2010 11:16

Just looking at that again, wouldnt it be a 100:1 so 10k andd 100r ?

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

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SepticSceptic

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#300947 22-Feb-2010 11:48

Yeah - I was guessing :-)
See here: ( I used the 40dB attenuator)
http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/line_to_mic.html

I did make a point to point solder effort and no case, and ecch, bloody unreliable with constant insertions/extractions. Do make the effort and build it in a case, or at least have the two jacks mounted on something like an aluminum u-channel or L-girder shaped bracket and solder the resistors to the jack tag leads.

richms

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#301050 22-Feb-2010 16:37

Can you not retask the jack can on my stinkpad at least. Only allows for mic or line in.

Shouldnt the USB device have audio in as well? Does on the cheap nasty easycap I got. Lousy video on it however.

Richard rich.ms

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#301065 22-Feb-2010 16:58

richms: Can you not retask the jack can on my stinkpad at least. Only allows for mic or line in.

Shouldnt the USB device have audio in as well? Does on the cheap nasty easycap I got. Lousy video on it however.

Where would you find the setting to choose inputs ? Had a quick squizz thru my HP Laptop Control Panel - Sound and Audio settings ..

A couple of ideas for the original poster:

1) How about a docking station for the laptop - usually they allow more functionality and I/O ports that the standard laptop.

2) And as Richms said, I doubt the quality of the conversion would be up to par. For $40.00 RETAIL, would mean that it cost less than $5.00 to make - you can't get decent A/D conversion at that price ;-).

For VCR to DVD conversion, I use a DVD recorder based DVR - and record at SQ mode - 4 hours per DVD-RW disk. You can go to HQ (High Quality) mode, but that would be pointless.

Then import the DVD into your favourite DVD authoring tool. Saves faffing about with unknown software drivers, device conflicts, and stutters due to other PC activity.

Old school maybe, and involves 2 steps, but means I don't have to lug the VCR to the PC, mess around with cables at the back of the PC, and the assorted spiders and bugs around the back taking offense at me disturbing their carefully crafted dust hideouts :-)

richms

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#301144 22-Feb-2010 18:46

I cant recall exactly where it was, one of the many unneeded apps that they ship with it would let you choose.

Same as a desktop computer lets you change the jack tasks thru the realtek tray app, unless you are unlucky enough to own an asus board.

I have had sync issues when trying to get audio and video from different devices to work together. When I last had to get stuff off VHS tapes the only reliable way I found was to use my DV camera to digitize it and send it thru firewire to the computer. Using the soundcard ended up with a file about 30 seconds too short.

Richard rich.ms

peejayw

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#301204 22-Feb-2010 20:29

Hmm, its just a one-off so dont want to get too involved. 2 resistors at 5c each sounds good :-)

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

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peejayw

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#301205 22-Feb-2010 20:31

Having said that, being able to tweak the input to get the same result would be good, running win7 and dont see how tho.

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.